Marc Myers writes daily on jazz legends and legendary jazz recordings

April 27, 2011

Shirley Scott: Hip Soul

In the late '50s, through the '60s and into the '70s, albums by sax-organ combos seem to have been recorded every three minutes at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in New Jersey. The Prestige label cornered the market on this format early, matching every possible Hammond B3 player with every conceivable tenor saxophonist. The number of reed-organ recordings for Prestige easily must total in the hundreds.

Among the most consistently interesting of these sessions were recordings by Shirley Scott [pictured above] and her then husband Stanley Turrentine [pictured left]. Turrentine's swinging freight-train sax backed by Scott's reed-section-sounding organ had a certain something that most other combos did not. If you analyze it, much had to do with the slow cook of both artists and how they goosed and played off each other. This was a partnership—not one instrument backed by the other.

The Turrentine-Scott sweet spot ran between 1961 and 1964, and the merger started with Hip Soul. Recorded in June 1961 about a year after the two married, the album is among their best summits. Of course, I say this loosely, since so many of their albums were perfect jazz-soul unions, including Never Let Me Go (1963) and Hustlin' (1964). But Hip Soul has something more, delivering a special clarity and purpose.

For one, Scott's organ on the date is set with skating-rink stops that made her chords and notes swell and soar. Turrentine is bitingly quick and soulful, hitting the gas on his boss tenor sound and then rearing back smoothly into a soft hush. This is a church conversation between equals. Scott's solos are as extensive and as well framed as Turrentine's, and both bring a huge gospel feel.

Joining Scott and Turrentine are Herbie Lewis on bass and Roy Brooks on drums. Interestingly, Turrentine appeared under the name Stan Turner, a pseudonym he had to take on due to his existing Blue Note contract. There are six tracks: Hip Soul is a rich, groovy blues by Turrentine; 411 West is a medium-tempo Benny Golson composition (with amazing solos by both artists); By Myself is the Dietz and Schwartz standard; Trane's Blues is John Coltrane's tune from a 1956 session with Paul Chambers; Stanley's Time is another Turrentine blues, and Out of This World is the Arlen and Mercer standard given a soulful flash fry by Scott and Turrentine.

In 1961, Scott and Turrentine managed to intertwine love and music. The result was a richness that superseded other organ-sax combos. Unfortunately, the Scott-Turrentine marriage would last only until 1970. But while they were together, they made some beautiful albums. The first was particularly special. [Pictured, from left: personal manager and bassist John Levy, Shirley Scott and Stanely Turrentine; courtesy of John and Devra Hall Levy]

JazzWax tracks:Hip Soul is not in print as a stand-alone album, but all of the material from the date is featured on Shirley Scott: Legends of Acid Jazz as the first six tracks. You'll find the album here.

JazzWax clip: There don't appear to be tracks from Hip Soul on YouTube. But here'sMajor's Minor from Never Let Me Go (1963). It will give you a fine sense of how these two played together...

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Hi Marc, Thanks so much for covering the great Shirley Scott here and her tremendously underrated collaborations with then-husband Stanley Turrentine. While both of these greats are gone now, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to maintain a sense of their musical importance in the world.

Notices like yours help improve this problem plenty. While I’m not sure I can agree with you about “Hip Soul” as being the best this husband and wife sax and organ duo created together, I thought it would be worthwhile to point out the entirety of the works they actually recorded together…

Marc--what a fun coincidence to read your post about this! I was just listening to HIP SOUL via the LEGENDS OF ACID JAZZ disc a couple of nights ago (one of about 50 CDs sitting by my stereo in the "liked-'em-so-much-I'm-going-to-play-them-again" area). Many thanks for your thoughtful take on the Scott-Turrentine combination; I'm a fan and have played some of these sides on Night Lights before.

When you say that in that era Van Gelder's was used for "matching every possible Hammond B3 player with every conceivable tenor saxophonist" one glaring omission comes to mind... And that's Dexter.
He was never paired with organ (even later, when he was with Prestige, in the '70s)and I've always regretted this. The only exceptions in his discography are the aborted Sonny Stitt date with Don Patterson, one track only surviving (I don't think I'll ever forgive Alfred Lion for his objections to the repertoire that day: only standards. Sounds ideal to me), and a much later guest spot from the same Shirley Scott on the 1982 Musician/Elektra record "American Classic", and not nessecarily a satisfying or substantial entry, though Shirley Scott remains, for me, the finest organist of them all, and many thanks to Doug Payne for that list of their complete discography. Most valuable.
(Oh, and a further little taste of Dexter on the "Jimmy Smith Jam" from that mammoth Cobblestone box set of "Newport ,72" jam sessions. But again very fleeting. Too bad).

I am in agreement that Shirley Scott was and still is the finest jazz organist. If anyone has any live recordings of her on organ and would be willing to sell the tapes, I am offering a fair price for a copy. Too bad the majority of her recordings employed a string bass and that really took away the essence of her true talent. Would like you to contact me at 216.371.3324

About

Marc Myers writes on music and the arts for The Wall Street Journal. He is author of "Why Jazz Happened" (Univ. of California Press). Founded in 2007, JazzWax is a Jazz Journalists Association's "Blog of the Year" winner.